American Childhood Summary

As we all know mother does know best, yet in some cases mother can do more harm than good. There is a big debate on how people are raising the newest generations and whether or not they are properly being introduced into the realities of our society. Are children being spoiled too much or not enough? This topic is thoroughly discussed by Alfie Kohn in his essay, “ The One-sided Culture War against Children” and by Nick Gillespie within his essay, “The Current State of Childhood: Is “Helicopter Parenting” or “Free-Range Childhood” Better for Kids?”. Although Kohn offers valid explanations, Gillespie does surpass Kohn’s explanations; parents need to be less overbearing and stop pampering their children.

In “Family History”, David Velleman explores the topic of the relation between genes and identity formation. He speaks on his belief of how having a child by an anonymous donor is wrong. Velleman believes that children are fascinated in knowing who their biological parents are as it plays an important role in how they identify themselves. So, if someone has a child using an anonymous donor, creating a child where a crucial interest cannot be met, they are wrong. This all stems from his belief that a person’s biological forbears plays a vital role in identity formation and maintenance. Using himself as an example, he explains how his identity and idea of life comes from what he and his family know about his great grandparents. He states this

Childhood was not considered a special time for development but rather a hurdle on the way to adulthood. “The goal was to get children speaking, reading, reasoning, and contributing to their family’s economic well-being as quickly as possible.”(Mintz 50) Many kids as young as six were working outside of the home at the time. A cultural revolution began in the eighteenth century when many middle class parents began to relish in their children’s innocence and saw this a time to nurture mold their children. As this form of parenting became the norm many parents began to have less children by using birth control, thus giving the fewer children they had more of their attention. As time progressed kids spent more time going to school rather than to work. “Within the last 3 centuries “Societal views about methods of Child rearing, the nature of children’s play, the ideal duration of schooling, the participation of young people in work, and the demarcation points between childhood, adolescence, and adulthood have shifted significantly.”(Mintz

Many things could be said about childhood on the homestead seeing as it was cut short in eighteen eighty-three. Notwithstanding, the children who survived childbirth was more often than not settled into a life of risk. During this time era, children were at constant risk of illness and disease. With this in mind, as chores came into play, an abundance of risks came into existence. As a result, children often became the victim of infection if the wounds were not properly cleaned. In the end, a risk was like a person’s life long companion. In spite of all of the risks and danger, it was the life they lived. Albeit, there was one way for a child to escape their chores and parents’ rules. In other words, a sanctuary of sorts. What is it? Well,

Raising America, the book written by Ann Hulbert discussing a century’s worth of child-rearing advice in America, was an interesting book. Hulbert has divided this book into four sections; The Birth of a Science, Psychological Leaps, Identity Crisis, and Psychological Limits. Each section covers parts of the whole century. Hulbert has also dived each of these section into what she refers to as two different schools,

Over time the concept of the nuclear family has started to deteriorate and the idea of a male dominated home is now rare. Since the nineteenth century and the growth of Women’s Rights Movement, women have been given more rights. The idea of the stereotypical woman being a housewife and raising the children has changed; women have started to help support the family financially by going out to work. This has meant that children over the years have had to adjust to the idea that the role of their mum has changed. This can give the era of childhood for children a sense of restlessness. Add why

Some sociologists such as Postman (1994) argue that childhood is ‘disappearing at a dazzling speed’ as he says by giving children the

Growing up in America one doesn’t really question our customs or the daily lives of the people here. Everyone kind of has a precedent for our everyday live and no one really tries to break the mold on that. Poranee Natadecha- Sonsel argues that Americans are unlike many other countries because they have a certain individualism about everything they do in their culture. In her article, “The Young, the Rich, and the Famous: Individualism as American Cultural Value”, the author reiterates over and over again that the way Americans value their individualism really impresses her. She names a few examples of American individualism such as conversational topics, privacy, and

Recalling her adolescence through the memoir, An American Childhood, Annie Dillard displays the impact of religion on her development. Although her family immerses themselves in knowledgeable literature, including, “Life of the Mississippi” (6) and “The Field Book of Ponds and Streams” (81), they maintain a passive relationship with religion. Observing her parents disinterest in theology, Dillard diverges from traditional Anglo-Christian beliefs and instead embraces science. While Dillard sporadically discusses theology, when she does, it is in a manner like a hunter, precisely articulating thought provoking bullets which dissect religion’s flaws. Nevertheless, Dillard’s distaste for “torpid conformity”

Thesis Statement: The essay written by Jerri Cook (2009), titled Confessions of the World’s Worst Parent, presents a comparison of the book Free-Range Kids: Giving Our Children the Freedom We Had Without Going Nuts with Worry written by Lenore Skenazy and the way she brought up her son. Main Points: ¶ 1-2 Main Point: Some parents give their children the freedom to explore their surroundings without constant supervision. ¶ 3 Main Point: Others (i.e. teachers) may identify this lack of attention as a sign of negligence. ¶ 4 Main Point: Good parents are always looking after their children and their safety. ¶ 5 Main Point:

Today, non-traditional families dominate the scene. The “normal” family is now uncommon in our society (Shields 562). Teachers have to be cautious when assuming every child has a mommy or daddy. Social workers must no longer be surprised when their clients are actually grandparents taking care of their grandchildren. Some children may have two daddies, or some only have a mommy. The list goes on. The culprit creating these unusual families is not always divorce and can include the death of a parent, unwed mothers, or single-sex parents (Shields 562). New families are not required to be biologically related. In an article about her non-traditional family, “Why Do We Marry?” Jane Smiley points out that people with numerous marriages or partners extend the definition of family (564). She writes, family dinners consisted of “me, my boyfriend, his daughter and son by his second wife, my daughters by my second husband, and my seven-year-old son by my third husband” (563, 564). Relationships begin to resemble several broken, rerouted, and

The innocence of children can make the biggest impact in someone’s life. My mother a 4th grade teacher at Willow Creek Elementary school told me a story about her kids. She explained how her class got into a conversation about the rules of society. One of her students said that influential people don’t follow the rules. My mother followed up with a question “well how do you know who is influential in our society”? A kid blurted out “because they are rich they can do whatever they want”. Hearing this story opened my mind to how society favors the rich not just in the worship and psychological views but in economic and in rules they are allowed to break in America’s society. Most people wouldn’t think this would be a bad thing but looking at the treatment of lower class and how the wage gap keeps increasing between the 1% can and is creating problems that crushes what all Americans thrive on the “American Dream”.

The autobiography “An American Childhood” written by Annie Dillard, takes the readers on an exhilarating journey through Dillard’s childhood experience of having been chased by an adult after having struck a car with an ice ball.

As I endured the prospect of creating a genogram, I allowed myself to reflect and interpret the history and impacts that affected my family. During my review of my genogram, I was able to consider my family within a multigenerational, diverse, and socio-political context. By creating a genogram, a dialogue was started within my head and with my partner about which family traits, issues, strengths, and resiliencies made me who I am today. Subsequently, this dialogue made me aware that being raised in a small family has many advantages along with some disadvantages when acquiring information about influences and the history of preceding generations. Consequently, I did not have to contend with many conflicting recollections but I did have to rely mostly on my own memory, public records, and journals to piece together my genogram. Although all things discovered and recollected are not always fortunate on the surface, they subsist as basis to my personal resilience and strength as a gay man.

Social constructionism gives meaning to phenomenon in social context and connections between culture and society build up realities in their circumstances. The studies of this idea have been conducted more than thirty years by a number of North American, British and continental writers (Burr, 1995). However, in childhood studies this notion appears later on. It is mostly held universally, childhood is a stage that biologically existing in human life in early years. It should be considered this childhood is constructed in the society. As a social being, it brings into the mind the relationship between society and child, inevitably. However, the dominant understanding of childhood attributes biological and social